And wrong. E.g., the perihelion precession of Mercury turned out to be caused by all matter being able to warp space and time by its very existence. We like to call that Not Magic, but it’s magic in the sense of disagreeing with established scientific theory, and in the sense of being something that, if explained to someone who believed in Newtonian physics, would sound like magic.
I wouldn’t say it would sound like magic. It would sound weird and inexplicable, but magic doesn’t just sound inexplicable, it sounds like reality working in a mentalist, top-down sort of way. It sounds like associative thinking, believing that words or thoughts can act on reality directly, or things behaving in agentlike ways without any apparent mechanism for agency.
Relativity doesn’t sound magical; in fact, I’d even say that it sounds antimagical because it runs so counter to our basic intuitions. Quantum entanglement does sound somewhat magical, but it’s still well evidenced
Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that. Now that I think about it, you’re right; most fictional magic does act on things that are fundamental concepts in people’s minds, rather than on things that are actually fundamental.
That said, I still say it all sounds like magic. I couldn’t tell you exactly what algorithm my brain uses to come up with “sounds like magic”, though.
Now that I think about it, you’re right; most fictional magic does act on things that are fundamental concepts in people’s minds, rather than on things that are actually fundamental.
I didn’t just have fictional magic in mind; concepts like sympathetic magic are widespread, maybe even universal in human culture. Humans seem to have strong innate intuitions about the working of magic.
To be fair, I’ve never asked him. But he included homoeopathy, which its practitioners claim isn’t mental.
So he was using magic in the sense of “disagrees with current scientific theory”, in that case the initial quote is circular.
It’s possible, but when I first heard it I honestly thought he meant “fundamentally mysterious stuff”.
And wrong. E.g., the perihelion precession of Mercury turned out to be caused by all matter being able to warp space and time by its very existence. We like to call that Not Magic, but it’s magic in the sense of disagreeing with established scientific theory, and in the sense of being something that, if explained to someone who believed in Newtonian physics, would sound like magic.
I wouldn’t say it would sound like magic. It would sound weird and inexplicable, but magic doesn’t just sound inexplicable, it sounds like reality working in a mentalist, top-down sort of way. It sounds like associative thinking, believing that words or thoughts can act on reality directly, or things behaving in agentlike ways without any apparent mechanism for agency.
Relativity doesn’t sound magical; in fact, I’d even say that it sounds antimagical because it runs so counter to our basic intuitions. Quantum entanglement does sound somewhat magical, but it’s still well evidenced
Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that. Now that I think about it, you’re right; most fictional magic does act on things that are fundamental concepts in people’s minds, rather than on things that are actually fundamental.
That said, I still say it all sounds like magic. I couldn’t tell you exactly what algorithm my brain uses to come up with “sounds like magic”, though.
I didn’t just have fictional magic in mind; concepts like sympathetic magic are widespread, maybe even universal in human culture. Humans seem to have strong innate intuitions about the working of magic.